Government should ensure that 'One Nation, One Tax' spirit of Goods and Services Tax (GST) should be realized, demanded trade leaders at the end of two-day National Conference of Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) in Ahmedabad.

The way states are implementing e-Way Bill, the spirit of the tax is being diluted, they said. Talking to DNA, BC Bharatia, national president of CAIT said that, there is a great deviation in the manner different states are implementing e-Way Bill. "Some states have exempted intra district transport of goods from e-Way Bill, some have exempted goods worth Rs50,000 from e-Way Bill, while some have kept the threshold limit of Rs One lakh. Traders are confused and penalized since laws are different. We want uniformity," said Bharatia.

He said that since the first anniversary of the roll out of GST is approaching and revenue collections are rising, the government should voluntarily announce amnesty scheme for those who made mistakes in filing. "The law is new for everyone. There were many teething troubles. If there are some anomalies, the government should waive off late fees, interest and penalty and the traders will have to pay only the tax due. This way the government would be able to increase the level of compliance," he said.

CAIT also demanded that since the revenue collection by way of GST is rising, the government should also reduce tax slabs to decrease the burden on the end user. Deliberations of two-day conference will be submitted in the form of memorandum to the central government.

Bharatia agreed that as a result of demonetization, roll out of GST and overall economic slowdown, there is a severe slowdown in trading sector. Especially small traders are facing severe crisis of liquidity.

“Inspite of a legal provision, big companies are not paying small companies on time. Even government departments are not paying on time. Banks have also reduced lending because if rising bad loans. Infrastructure projects are not so labour intensive. So money is not reaching to people at lower and middle of the pyramid. As the trade is undergoing a paradigm shift, traditional businesses have taken a severe hit. Under such circumstances, we want the government to come to the aid of small players,” said Bharatia.

CAIT had on Monday opposed the deal between Walmart and Flipkart and has threatened a nationwide strike on July 2.